No Attys' Fees Under Civil Rights Law: 3rd Circ.

Law360, New York (June 15, 2011, 9:53 PM EDT) -- A divided Third Circuit sitting en banc ruled Wednesday that a plaintiff does not prevail for purposes of obtaining attorneys’ fees under a federal civil rights law if it wins a temporary restraining order but the defendant moots the case by changing its position.

The precedential decision, in a suit pitting concert promoter Live Gold Operations Inc. against the state of New Jersey, adds weight to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2001 Buckhannon decision striking down the so-called catalyst theory, under which a party was considered “prevailing”...